While ATE has seen a slowing of effort and writing, this does not mean I have stopped gaming and thinking all together. In fact, I think one of the biggest forms of risk taking is looking to lose. If we try to lighten the tone on the wording, we can also reference the phrase “taking risks” or even “trying something new”.

Which, admittedly, doesn’t always work out in one’s favor.

The Xbox One may be a bad example. After all, if one ends up taking too big a risk, one dies.

Business may be in need of taking different approaches to self-improvement. I know decisions I make in a regular day, won’t piss off millions of people. Then again, a personal policy change doesn’t credit my account with similarly dizzying numbers. Not as if the end result of any day should be measured in money. In fact, being able to justify satisfaction outside numerically based personal gain is an act of maturity, and one that should signify a meaningful experience.

With only a rare few of us realizing we are already at our destination.

A little while back, I brought up my own point of observation when dealing with “the gender issue” in gaming. I referred to it as the “why of gaming”, and regularly think about expanding the idea. The why of anything is important, and gives us insight as to why letters form words and then make sentences.Even in the simplest regard, asking why of our favorite games, can sometimes make us realize what keeps us going on a regular basis.

And sometimes, not really in need of a reminder.

To keep moving is definitely a talent, thought moving swiftly isn’t always a need, just a want. Whether you’re moving from room to room, or taking a great journey, being daring and curious can be beneficial. When traveling abroad, even within our own mental landscapes, taking risks never stops being a wise choice, but it does bare responsibility. That’s why I suppose some people do overlook the journey as the “end result”, instead looking at the numbers lost and gained in the process. Everybody looking for the real “meaning of life” in their own way, gamers not the exception.

Upon further examination, the meaning of life may be more confusing than previously thought.

Math equivocally failing to help us understand greater meaning in this same regard.

So, when we all consider we are somehow looking to lose on a regular basis, we don’t always refer to it as such. Gamers are no strangers to the act of losing, as many and most regulars probably have a ratio of 1/10 in this regard. The ten being the number of times you didn’t win, which ends up making the act all that much more satisfying. Simple game design dictates a certain risk/reward that services those who don’t mind dying, in order to really live their gaming lives. Risk reward is different for everybody of course, that’s why we have the Animal Crossers of the day just choosing to simply live.

Others still, just simply dying.

With nothing to lose you have nothing to gain, and the trade off following is one that will reflect this. Gamers sub-consciously know this, and have chosen their fates in doing so. Where one seeks a smile through the act of growing flowers, many will favor endless war to satiate their primal lusts. Both are thrust forward with the same want, to know one’s self, losing it through the act of fantasy can be a stiff reminder of the reality of your own situation.

Perhaps even making you forget about reality all together, for better or for worse.

Where do I stand in all of this? One who games for the very same reasons listed above, and many entirely forgotten in the course of the writing. Gaming takes on just one more form of understanding, with the essence of playing an endless learning process. In the grand scheme of living and dying, one persons quest is another person’s game, and a journey to one may be the final resting place for another.

I lose every time I game, and in the end all I’m really losing is myself.